An independent commission proposes sweeping fixes for a troubled state Department of Parks and Recreation badly in need of repairs, including shedding smaller parks and shaking up management policies to restore public trust after financial scandals rocked the system.

“A great institution is falling apart,” said Virginia Ellis, a member of the Little Hoover Commission that issued the report Monday.

State Parks Director Anthony Jackson, a retired Marine major general and Fallbrook resident, said the commission’s report is a valuable third-party assessment that reinforces his approach.

“In many ways it validates many of my own thoughts about parks,” said Jackson, who took over in November after the scandals came to light. “So far I have read very little in it that I could argue against.”

The recommendations sent to Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers include:

• Transfer parks not considered of “statewide significance” to regional or local agencies. An advisory committee would prepare the criteria.

• Lawmakers should fully fund parks and adopt a policy that revenues generated on-site should “supplement — not supplant” dollar commitments in the state budget.

• The state should abandon its use-it or lose-it policy toward local parks budgets so officials have more flexibility to invest savings in long-term projects or react to immediate unanticipated costs.

• Launch a pilot program to ”bundle” state parks with others nearby operated by city, county or federal agencies. That would save on ranger patrols and other operation and maintenance costs.

• Companies bidding on lucrative concession contacts at popular parks should also be required to take on services at smaller venues that do not generate as much revenue.

• Create two classifications of park ranger: one who would be a generalist with broad responsibilities and another who would solely concentrate on public safety.

The Little Hoover Commission is a 13-member independent state oversight body appointed by the governor and legislative leaders. Four lawmakers are on the commission. It holds hearings on complex and controversial issues and then issues reports that contain recommendations for action by the state.

In its 122-page report to Brown and lawmakers, the Little Hoover Commission warned of “chronic conditions” that are hindering parks.

Among those shortcomings: spending too much through bond measures to acquire parks that cannot be maintained and a centralized bureaucracy that is too slow to respond to changing circumstances.

Jackson agreed that landholding policies need to be reviewed, particularly because of maintenance costs.

“It’s like buying a mansion but you cannot afford the electric bill,” he said.

The commission stops short of naming which parks could be affected by its recommendations. It leaves that up to lawmakers and a proposed advisory council.

“We do not want to presuppose decisions,” said Stuart Drown, the commission’s executive director.

However, the commission did spotlight Hearst Castle in one aside addressing suggestions that “the process should have no sacred cows.” Some of those offering testimony suggested that Hearst Castle might be better off operated by a museum, such as the Getty in Los Angeles, because of its extensive art collection and $34 million backlog in maintenance.